Half appetising. Review on Half Girlfriend - Chetan Bhagat

Best selling Indian author Chetan Bhagat made headlines with the title of his new book Half Girlfriend, even before it released.The title was a perfect case of smart marketing;a case of generating widespread interest and curiosity among the readers just with the inventive title.Having liked many of his past works, I expected this one also to carry forward the same feeling.

A Bihari boy Madhav, with little proficiency in English wants a relationship with Riya, a Delhi girl from a sophisticated family.The story revolves around the romance between the two protagonists, the good times they have and the tribulations they had to undergo over a period of time.Bhagat intends to tell a breezy love story yet again and he is clearly targeting readers from the hinterland here, the vast majority of the masses in India who have difficulty to speak English.

The story begins in St Stephens College in Delhi and that is where the two lead characters meet.The initial few pages are fun as Madhav struggles with his bits and pieces English in the cosmopolitan corridors of St Stephens.Once he catches a glimpse of Riya on the basketball court, it is a case of love at first sight and Bhagat just races ahead with the love story not allowing it any time to develop gradually.

As the story progresses, one realises that Bhagat has used every trick used in our movies to build his tale. Agreed, the premise on which the story starts is in itself not novel. The poor boy-rich girl angle has been exploited to the fullest in innumerable Indian movies.But, Bhagat falls prey to the same old cliches and stereotypes and offers nothing new in terms of content.In fact, most readers can actually second guess what is going to happen next for most part of the story.

Coming to the romance between Madhav and Riya, it does not have the required depth to hook the readers.The characters in the story appear too hollow and perhaps it would have been better if the writer had spent more time in building stronger leads. Right till the end of the story, we hardly get to know Riya in the perfect sense.One gets the feeling of a self serving girl, who is never stable.Her disappearance toward the end was totally unnecessary and it just prolongs the story for a true blue movie like ending. Madhav is someone who also fails to generate any sort of empathy or good will for himself.His love in the beginning veers more towards the carnal instincts and was frankly vexatious.Also the infamous line "Deti hai toh de, varna kat le" is cringeworthy. Good romantic stories usually take time to develop and blossom, but the writer here jumps fast to the sensual side, thus diluting the tale.

As mentioned earlier, it is a cliched story and the characters too, right from Madhav, Riya to his mother are typecast.It would have been more prudent if Bhagat had concentrated on the content more, rather than trying to write a script of the next Bollywood blockbuster. There are not enough twists and turns in the story, and whatever there are, most smart readers would already know what they would be, save for one or two places.The story dips in the middle and is quite tedious at some points and the predictability factor does not help too.As often accused, his writing does not appeal to all sections of the readers and it continues here too.Most of his past works had some good stories with excellent presentation that instantly connected with the youth, but the absence of a coherent story here becomes his undoing. Without content, even great presentation does not come to the rescue and that is exactly the case here.

Despite the flaws, Half Girlfriend is still a good one time read. Watch out for the ending which is so much like a movie that you can actually believe like it is happening right in front of your eyes.Whatever might be the negatives, Bhagat is an accomplished story teller and his narration has always been top class.The language is simple, and that is actually a plus point because he understands the Indian market well. I have seen many people who don't even touch novels reading his works and that augurs well! The way he describes the characters is lovable in fact. He also gets the Bihari factor right and infuses quite some funny moments in the story. The depiction of the hinterlands is also believable and the English speech delivered by Madhav is one of the points where the story rises above the mediocrity.Perhaps the biggest strength of the story is in the endearing ending narrated to perfection. Yes, it is too maudlin, too saccharine and highly contrived but enables the story to end on a high note. The perfect climax for a Hindi movie, actually!

As with over hyped, big budget movies which are low on content, but still gross huge collections at the box office, this novel too fits the bill perfectly. It is not a must read by any standards, but read it if you must and you would certainly not regret it. But the story is unlikely to stay with you after a few days. It is already a best seller;in that Bhagat has succeeded. But, fine story? He "HALF SUCCEEDS".

Rating:2.5/5